Forest Inventory and Management Plan NSF Indian Head Maryland | Apply Online

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the funding opportunity number for this grant?

The Funding Opportunity Number is N4008009LTC0003.

What type of award is this?

This opportunity is a Department of Defense cooperative agreement.

Is this grant discretionary or mandatory?

The opportunity category is listed as discretionary.

What activity area does this opportunity fall under?

The activity category is natural resources.

Where will the work take place?

The work focuses on NSF Indian Head, Maryland (NSFIH) and an additional site referenced as SN.

What is the main purpose of the project?

The core purpose is to produce a detailed forest inventory and use it to develop a 10 year forest management plan. The inventory is intended to support estimating current timber volume and projected growth over selected rotation periods so future timber harvest decisions are based on field data rather than rough estimates.

What does the forest inventory need to capture?

The inventory is expected to collect field data sufficient to estimate timber volume and projected growth, and also document overall forest condition. That includes indicators such as invasive species presence, disease issues, levels of herbaceous ground cover, deer browsing pressure, regeneration success, and other signs of forest health or stress.

Does the inventory need to address timber stand improvement (TSI) needs?

Yes. The inventory should identify stands that would benefit from TSI work, such as thinning, release treatments, or other practices intended to improve stand quality and long-term productivity.

What is the required planning horizon for the management plan?

The awardee must produce a 10 year forest management plan.

What should the 10 year management plan include?

Based on the inventory results, the plan should translate the data into an actionable schedule for both harvesting and TSI over the 10 year period. The schedule is intended to specify where and when treatments would occur during the decade and tie those actions to the rotation periods selected for different forest stands.

Is the plan expected to maximize timber yield?

No. The opportunity emphasizes that proposed harvest methods should prioritize forest sustainability and ecosystem-based management rather than maximizing short-term yield. The plan should balance timber objectives with long-term stand health, species diversity, habitat needs, water protection, and resilience.

What conservation and sensitive resource issues must be integrated into the plan?

The plan must incorporate protective measures for bald eagles, forest interior dwelling (FID) bird species, forest bats, and aquatic or wetland resources such as wetlands and streams.

How does the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) bald eagle biological opinion (BO) affect the plan?

The management plan is specifically required to address and incorporate the terms and conditions of the USFWS bald eagle biological opinion (BO) that applies to forestry activities at NSFIH. The BO requires NSFIH to update its forestry management plan so it reflects these conditions.

Are there specific bald eagle harvest restriction distances that must be followed?

Yes. The BO sets spatial restrictions including: no forest harvest within 750 feet of bald eagle nest protection zones, and harvesting is limited within the broader half-mile protection zones. The management plan needs to show how harvest and TSI will be scheduled and designed to remain compliant with these constraints.

What data collection and mapping requirements are stated?

All field data collected under the cooperative agreement must be captured using GPS units. This implies mapped stand boundaries, plot locations, invasive species observations, sensitive resource areas, and recommended treatment areas should be spatially referenced and reproducible.

What are the primary expected deliverables?

The end products are essentially: (1) a timber and forest health inventory dataset suitable for estimating volume and growth and diagnosing stand conditions; and (2) a comprehensive, GPS-informed 10 year management plan that includes a harvest/TSI schedule and explicit conservation measures and compliance language tied to the bald eagle BO and other ecosystem concerns.

How many awards were anticipated?

The listing anticipated one award.

Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility is listed as unrestricted, meaning it is open to any entity type unless further limited in the full announcement.

What were the posting and closing dates?

The posting date was August 19, 2009, and the closing date was September 17, 2009.

Is the funding amount specified in the summary notice?

The funding fields in the notice display zeros for total funding and award floor/ceiling. This typically indicates the financial specifics were handled elsewhere in the full solicitation or were not populated in the summary record.

Who can be contacted for access issues or questions about the full announcement?

The listed point of contact is Denise Wilson, Contracting Officer, at 202-685-0400.

What does it mean that this is a cooperative agreement?

The opportunity is explicitly labeled a cooperative agreement. (No additional detail about how the cooperation will be structured is provided in the summary text.)

Does the opportunity require geospatially defensible documentation?

Yes. The emphasis on GPS capture for all field data indicates a strong expectation for geospatial accuracy and documentation that can be verified and reproduced.

Does the plan need to explicitly show compliance with regulatory constraints while still meeting forestry goals?

Yes. Because bald eagle protection zones and other sensitive resource measures affect where and how operations can occur, the plan is expected to demonstrate how harvest and TSI can be implemented in a compliant way while still supporting forest management objectives.